Hi-fi Friday ~ KISS!

My friends are prolly wondering why it took me so long to do a feature on KISS, as I’ve been a fan since I was like 10 years old thanks to my older sister, Michelle. She introduced me to KISS when she played Lick It Up for me way back then…

I liked the song quite a bit, then I saw the video…

… featuring hot women and I was hooked! Then I did my usual thing where I would look up the history of a band and found out that KISS not only wore tight jeans and weird outfits, but they also wore makeup too!

So I had to deal with the usual KISS shit… Knights (or Kings) In Satan’s Service. They’re gay. They’re evil. Whatever….

It’s a freakin’ band for Christ sake! They were are also one of the most powerful marketing machines on the planet! Actually, it’s the mind of Gene Simmons that made kiss blow up. Dude’s a freakin’ genius… literally!

Did you know that Gene and lead vocalist, Paul Stanley, have never messed with drugs or alcohol? That’s damn near unheard of in the music industry! But drugs and alcohol are why there’s been a revolving door at percussion and lead guitar with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, respectively, leaving and rejoining the band occasionally. Those two are now gone, replaced by Eric Singer on drums and Tommy Thayer at lead guitar…

Now I can’t talk about KISS without mentioning Eric Carr. He became the drummer after Peter Criss left the band in 1980. In my opinion, Carr was the best drummer KISS ever had… Check out this drum solo from the Animalize tour in 1985…

Sadly, Eric Carr died 6 years later from a rare form of heart cancer. R.I.P. buddy…

So I essentially grew up with KISS… I enjoyed all their albums after hearing Lick It Up.

Animalize…

Asylum…

Crazy Nights… featuring this….

Hot in the Shade was fantastic…

But after Revenge came out in 1992, I went to go see KISS live for the first time ever. Mostly because I wasn’t allowed to go to a concert until I was 18. Thanks, Mom!

This is what they did on stage…

Blew my mind! The rest of the show was fantastic, also!

Since that first show, I’ve seen them pretty much every time they’ve come to Cleveland. Hell I went to their convention tour back in 1995. That was a small KISS Konvention, maybe 300 people, in which they displayed a lot of their stage stuff from over the years, costumes and such. But the band also came out and played a 2 hour acoustic set! It was amazing! I even got an autograph from Gene Simmons!

Most recently, KISS toured with Motley Crue last year in what was called “The Tour.” I was there! And they were as good as they’ve ever been. Here’s a look at the beginning of their set in Houston…

~ Detroit Rock City ~

Hoo boy… that’s some good stuff! Can’t wait to see ’em next time they come around!